Collins, J. Lawton

Collins, J. (Joseph) Lawton

(1896–1987) soldier; born in New Orleans. Commanding the 25th Infantry Division, he cleared Japanese forces from Guadalcanal in January 1943. Transferred to the European Theater, he took the VII Corps ashore at Utah Beach, Normandy, on June 6, 1944, and led the Corps, often in the vanguard of the American troops, to a junction with the Russians on the Elbe in the spring of 1945. He served as Army chief of staff from 1949–53.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.